Dragon's Guardian by Ava Richardson

Author:Ava Richardson [Richardson, Ava]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-04-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Kai and Mari were both silent as the roofs of Bellsor passed below them. For once, the flight didn’t ease Mari’s heart. The whirlwind of her thoughts went on churning, flapping through her head in frantic, jagged loops like terrified bats.

‘It’s all right,’ Kai said, trying to reassure her. ‘Enemies scheming against me is nothing new.’

“Aren’t you scared?” Mari asked eventually. “With monsters trying to poison you?”

His shrug rippled under her. ‘It goes with the position.’

“What, so it’s something you just get used to?”

‘I guess so. Everyone has an agenda. Even the healers and the experts who tried to help me with my magic. There’s always an angle.’

“That sounds horrible.”

‘It does get exhausting,’ he conceded, ‘trying not to trust anybody. You have to have somewhere you can let your guard down. That’s part of why I was so glad to find you. I don’t have to second guess you or try to keep one step ahead of you. It’s…very restful.’

The words, imbued through the bond with a glow of safety and warmth, made something in her stomach take an unexpected dip and swoop that had nothing to do with flying. Gods, what was wrong with her? They’d been fighting for their lives just now. He’d feel that way with any tamer, she scolded herself, mortified, hoping Kai hadn’t noticed. Be reasonable.

Fortunately, he seemed lost in his own thoughts. ‘What bothers me…’ he hesitated, started again. “What scares me about these monsters is that if I’m the target, someone has terrible aim. If I’m the target, then someone is stirring up all this chaos and destruction to get to me, and they don’t care who gets hurt.’ He snorted. ‘I’m pretty much used to being the eye of the hurricane. But at least my personal hurricane never affected anyone beyond the palace.’

“That’s the shop district,” Mari said, glad for the distraction. From above, it was a distinctively colorful hodgepodge, awnings and tents of cloth making a cheerful patchwork that spilled into the streets.

‘All right,’ Kai said, sounding resigned, ‘let’s see how much of it we can cover before dark.’

But then an idea broke over Mari like a wave, and she leaned down over Kai’s neck.

“Wait. Wait! I know where we should look!”

Kai banked and swept low over the shops, looking for a spot with enough room to land. ‘And where’s that?’

“An alchemist needs more than books and instruments,” Mari said. “An alchemist needs ingredients.”

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